Sometimes you choose your road trip companions ahead of time, and sometimes you find them along the way.

That’s what happened to Dean Nicholson, of Dunbar, Scotland.

A few months ago decided it was time for a change.

He left his job as a welder and started a bike trip across the world.

He rode several hundred miles across the UK before catching a ferry to Amsterdam, and then he started riding through Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and more.

Then, one day, Nicholson was riding through Bosnia, when he says he heard a “desperate meow.”

A little cat caught his attention.

After he gave this “wee, scrappy little thing” some pets, she stuck right by him.

So, instead of riding solo, he decided the cat would come along.

He took her to the vet for shots, got her a collar and a passport, and gave her a name: Nala.

Nicholson even put a special basket on the front of his bike so the kitty can have a more comfortable ride, though, he says, if they’re riding over something particularly bumpy, like cobblestones, Nala will jump onto his shoulders.

If a continental bike trip with a cat isn’t your cup of tea, how about a boat trip with a chicken?

A French sailor carried out a more than three year sailing voyage all over the world with only one regular companion, Monique the chicken.

They’ve even written a kid’s book about their adventure, called “The Hen Who Sailed Around The World.”

And from the looks of it, Monique did a lot better with her sailing trip than the perpetually freaked out chicken Hei-Hei did in the movie “Moana.”

Cat travels the world on a bicycle after backpacker adopts the stray kitten and customises bike to take her with him (The Daily Mail)

Boat trip with a chicken (The Guardian)

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Photo by Takayuki Miki via Flickr/Creative Commons